Positive economic signs from the UK economy allow a near-miraculous recovery for sterling after a sharp fall. Investors are more relaxed about the Greek budget problems.
Sterling fell sharply last Monday, losing nearly two cents before lunch. The remainder of the week was devoted to the slow and tedious process of recovery. Although it seemed an impossible ambition last Monday afternoon sterling opened in London this morning at €1.11, unchanged on the week.
At the beginning of the week the nondomiciled tax status of Baron Ashcroft dominated the media. Allegedly, the noble lord had bought his way into a peerage by making large donations to the Conservative party. For some reason this old tradition had become suddenly improper. It would be an exaggeration to blame sterling's sharp fall on Lord Ashcroft alone but the story will certainly have unnerved investors who were already nervous about the Tories failing to win a majority at the forthcoming general election.
From there it was uphill all the way but at least sterling managed to make it up the hill with the assistance of some positive news. On Tuesday the government held a successful auction of 30- year gilts which attracted bids for nearly twice that much. The last five auctions of 30-year stock have achieved an average of 1.63 times cover so, whatever misgivings they may have about sterling's short-term future, there is a degree of confidence among investors the current problems will be short-lived.
Having ignored Monday's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (their minds were on other things) investors took a great deal of interest in Wednesday's services sector PMI. At 58.4 the services PMI was more than three points better than predicted, scoring a three-year high.
It blew America's 53.0 and Euroland's 51.8 into the weeds. Coming hard on the heels of a ten-point jump in consumer confidence it was another reminder to the market that not everything to do with Britain's economy is in a state of collapse.
There was more reassurance from the Bank of England when the Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep interest rates unchanged for a 13th month and to leave quantitative easing on hold.
A rash of data provided no coherent picture of the euro zone economy. The manufacturing and services PMIs were both a little softer on the month but not far adrift from what the analysts had forecast. Consumer and producer price inflation were roughly in line with the market's expectations but had no immediate implications for euro interest rates. A -0.3% monthly fall for retail sales was better than the expected -0.5% decline but still not exactly positive. The revision to fourth quarter GDP showed the Euroland economy growing by +0.1%.
The European Central Bank tightened monetary policy on Thursday with an end to the cheap threemonth loans it had been offering to commercial banks. They will still be able to borrow one-week money at 1% but the three-month rate will depend in future on market rates. The ECB had nothing to offer the Athens government and said it would oppose any attempt to approach the IMF for assistance.
Nevertheless, Greece did manage to find buyers for a €5 billion bond issue.
By the end of the weekend it had become clear that, although Germany would not put its hand in its pocket for a Greek bailout, the EU had an emergency plan if push came to shove.
At least for the moment investors are comfortable, if not deliriously happy, about the situation but their next question will be whether France and Germany will be able to carry the euro zone economy ahead on their own if the economies of Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy are to be weighed down by austerity measures of one sort or another.
Whilst sterling's recovery last week might be seen as a sign that there is life in the old dog yet, it is still hard to see the British currency as anything other than a dog. Opinion polls continue to indicate a hung parliament and investors fear that even after the general election Britain's government will be paralysed by indecision, unable or unwilling to tackle the budget gap. Buyers of the euro should hedge 50% of what they will need. If the money is required in the near future they should consider covering the whole amount.
For further information about Moneycorp and its services please contact the local Costa Blanca office of Moneycorp on 902887243 and quote The CoastRider.

I am pleased to be able to say that I have a general feeling that the stagnant situation relating to property in Spain may actually be showing signs of change. I am not going to make any wild predictions or claims that the "crisis" is on/off or indifferent as certain inept governments like to do but I am seeing evidence of some movement in the property sector which brings me to the point of the article for this week.
I know from professional contacts, that still Spain is the number 1 destination for Northern European retirees when deciding on where to finally settle. This is for a mixture of reasons and fortunately it does mean that despite obviously turbulent times the demand for property in Spain ( amongst Northern Europeans ) is a permanent one, and so it is only a question of time rather than anything else which determines what happens when.
As people are visiting from various parts of Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the UK with a view to planning their retirement now is a good time to decide whether or not you really want to sell or maybe rent to them. Most people visiting are open minded when they arrive and may well find it enticing to rent a property with an option to buy. Where you may have been assuming that all you can do is pray for a buyer it may be possible to make an alternative plan.
If you rent out your property you will find that with a well prepared contract you will have protection from the situation people used to find themselves in where they could never get rid of a tenant or put the rent up. Those days are gone thank goodness due to the development of legislation post 1995 which gives property owners the means to evict tenants.
Of course the horror stories are fortunately rare and most retirees will simply be looking for a fair contract with a fair rent and will probably almost certainly buy the property if they have enjoyed renting it and it is all that you promised them. Of course this is not guaranteed if for some reason they don´t like the area or the property has not lived up to expectations but of course, during the life of the agreed rental period you will have received income and also possibly times may have changed and you may find there are more buyers around when the rental period finishes.
The art is to have a good contract drawn up which is renewable say every year or two whichever suits, with allowances for rental increases. Of course this may not suit everyone but it can be a very useful way to find a buyer and solve a temporary problem of a slow housing market. Anyone serious about selling should consider this option as even builders of new properties are having to reconsider their approach to sales and marketing and offer alternative strategies to clients to enable them on to the property ladder.
The other possibility of course is to insist on a sale but again consider if a flexible contract may not be better than the old fashioned approach of simply sayjng to the buyer - see you at the notary with all the money in under 30 days!
This is no longer realisitic for many buyers as often they have the will but lack the means to proceed with a purchase, if there is an agreed flexible plan about payments and other conditions such as a reserve deposit followed by a purchase deposit and then perhaps an interim payment staggered, this could enable them to arrange loans, sell another property, maybe receive an insurance or retirement lump sum. The key is to be flexible and be prepared to think a little differently about how to sell your house.
We are specialists in property and conveyancing and will be more than happy to assist anyone with such matters. Any arrangements made in advance will help your agent/s with selling or renting your property and we are very accomplished at working with agents to act on the clients behalf. For example, a power of attorney can be arranged which speeds matters up considerably and will very much motivate the agents in dealing with your property. It should be remembered that as the market is slow, anyone who does not help the agent by making sensible contact and legal representation arrangements is not likely to find their property on the top of the agents list of properties to show. They have to work in a practical way and so vendors who simply say "here´s the details and this is how much I want for it" and then disappear to the UK without leaving a power of attorney, keys and so on, are likely to be at the bottom of the viewers lists - agents are only human beings and if someone is visiting Spain for a week to buy or rent a property, they are switiched off immediately by vendors/rentors that are "away for a couple of weeks" or not back until "June", meaning viewing and any possible negotiations are blocked for some period of time. When this happens unless your agent is superhuman ( which I know some do their very best to be ) it is very difficult to maintain a clients interest while numerous phone calls and general chasing around is carried out.
Remember these potential buyers/renters can quickly walk down the end of the road with the agent and find someone who has arranged power of attorney, left the keys, provided all necessary paperwork and information required to go to the notary so think carefully before dismissing agents needs. The best thing every time is to already have a lawyer in place who you know you can trust and simply leave to deal with all matters with the agent and act in your best interests, this way it makes it feasible for a good agent and good lawyer to acheive satisfaction for you as quickly as possible.
The first step is to consider what may interest you and then discuss the matter in detail with your lawyer. Once you have agreed what plan of action you wish to take you can simply hand the matter to your lawyer. Sometimes this is useful even if you are here permanently since as mentioned previously a lawyer can prepare contracts and agreements of various types and you will have a lot more flexibility as a result of their advice, also sometimes we just don´t want to be bothered with the intricacies of it all.
A free initial consultation could lead to you coming to the solution to your property problems so don´t hesitate to contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call 654 316 785.

One of the most controversial issues in fund management is past performance and whether it has any relationship to the future. Academics have said that you have as much chance of picking a future winning fund by selecting the best from the past as you have of winning at roulette by looking at where the balls ended up earlier. Personally, I don’t think this is a good analogy and past performance charts are important but should not be used as a sole reason to invest into a product.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has said that the past has no serious predictive value. At one time, the FSA wanted to ban past performance charts because the FSA said they just confuse investors. But the fund management industry put up a spirited defence of the practice (without which it would have to rewrite all its adverts and literature), and its view prevailed.
Whether your investment is an OEIC, investment trust or insurance bond, performance charts are available for you to scrutinize. The charts are usually measured against sectors such as the FTSE, Dow Jones Index or Pacific equities excluding Japan. Measuring a fund’s performance against a sector is a good thing – the idea is to compare apples with apples, not oranges or pears. So to give you an example – if you have a fund investing in Commercial Property then this is measured against the FTSE UK Commercial Property Index Series, which basically gives an average performance of all the commercial property funds in the UK and you can then measure the fund you are looking at against this. So, why is comparing a fund against a sector important? Well, if you have a fund performance of 10% over the last 12 months then most people would agree that this is a good performance.
However, if it is compared to the sector and the sector average of all other funds in the same class has returned a 15% return then the 10% fund doesn’t seem very good. It can work the other way, as I have seen many times over the last year or so. A fund can return a performance of 3%, which can look like a bad return, however, if the sector average is minus 10 per cent then the 3% fund is a star fund.
Also, when examining performance charts and the sectors that they are compared to, keep in mind that coming fifth in a sector of 200 funds is a real achievement, but coming fifth in a sector of 10 is just average. An important point when looking at past performance is that comparisons don’t always work smoothly as some funds are mobile. What I mean by mobile is that they move the asset mix over time and therefore change sectors, usually making the fund look better. Also, sometimes the sector boundaries or even the name are altered, making it tough to follow a fund over the years. An even bigger problem occurs when funds merge. This happens all the time but over the last couple of years during the credit crisis I have seen an increase of funds merging with others (I’ve also seen an increase of funds going bust – but that is another story!). When a fund merges into another then usually the fund with the better record continues and the other is air-brushed out of history. Thankfully, there are many funds that have good pedigrees and have a solid history to track. Looking at the history and track record of the lead fund manager is also important. Experience is vital in fund management, don’t get confused by statements such as “Managers have 40 years of experience in markets”. Some funds may have ten managers – that’s an average of just four years each!
The ideal investment portfolio is not one full of funds that are currently topping the table. Too many fund managers have succeeded in heading the league one day and propping it up the next. Instead, look for a consistent performance over a number of years (at least 5 years). I would want to invest in a fund that beats 60 or 70 per cent of its competitors on a regular basis. If performance charts show anything, it shows if a fund is consistently ahead of the majority and so provides better value for investors rather than the flash-in-thepan funds.
You can contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Transferring money overseas can be a daunting prospect at any time but particularly when the money involved represents hundreds of thousands of euros or pounds, or even your entire life’s savings. How can you be sure that it is in safe hands? We asked currency specialists, Moneycorp, to comment on this.
Moneycorp is a large UK based organisation which has been trading in foreign exchange for over 30 years. Last year Moneycorp traded over £11 billion in currencies and understands the need for efficient payment services, which comply with the legal regulation and requirements.
As a large organisation, Moneycorp is both “authorised” and “registered” by the FSA. This involves fulfilling specific criteria. To be “authorised”, a firm must
• Be properly organised and run by suitable people who have not been convicted of financial crimes
• Have enough money behind it
• Have proper arrangements in place to safeguard customers’ money.
A company that is only “registered” means that the FSA only check that the people running the company have not been convicted of financial crimes, that the company is based in the UK and that if it is choosing to protect clients’ money, how it will do so.
Moneycorp explained to us that as their standard process, all money belonging to customers is held in a specified Client Account.
This money is maintained separately from the company’s own money, meaning that Moneycorp does not make interest or profit from any client’s funds and cannot use them for speculative purposes. As an “authorised” firm, client money is protected so that if the company should ever get into financial difficulty and be wound up, customer’s money would be returned to them.
Moneycorp is a company proud of its financial stability and publicises its company accounts on the internet. The company served over 2.8 million customers last year and is unique in the industry in having held an ISO Quality Assurance Accreditation consistently since 1996. Moneycorp prides itself on its quality service to private individuals and business clients alike.
When booking currency transfers, Moneycorp issues clients with a Contract Summary outlining the specified value date of the contract, the exact amounts of money involved in both the originating and destination currency, the rate of exchange applied to the currency and confirmation of any transaction costs. All payments have a specific transaction reference and proof of payment is emailed to the client when the onward payment has been made, enabling the client to track their funds.
Services available through Moneycorp include spot rate transfers, regular payments and a special repatriation scheme, designed for people selling property in Spain and transferring the proceeds to the UK. To find out how Moneycorp can help you save money through your currency transfers and to receive further information about the benefits of using Moneycorp, please contact the local Costa Blanca office at the number below.
If you wish to contact Moneycorp, please call the local Costa Blanca office on 902887243, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , visit www.moneycorp.com/TheCoastRider or Moneycorp’s main website www.moneycorp.com.
Please tell Moneycorp you saw this article in The CoastRider.